If you've played other RTS games, delete the expectation now. There is no structure that reveals a wide area of the map as blips, no radar coverage to extend, no radar range to compare.

What you get instead

Seismic sensors. A sensor tells you that something is there — that's all. It doesn't tell you what it is, not the unit type, not the tier, not whether it's a scout or a Silverback. It doesn't tell you how many; one contact is not one unit. And it only detects movement. A unit standing perfectly still generates no ping at all.

The consequences:

• You cannot know what's on the map without going and looking. Sensor contacts are prompts to investigate, never answers.
• A still army is a hidden army. Any player can exploit this. Staging an ambush costs nothing but patience.
• Absence of contacts means nothing. Empty coverage is consistent with empty ground, a stationary army, or a cloaked one. Never read quiet as safe.

Where cloak fits

Federation cloaking doesn't just make units invisible to the eye. It suppresses their seismic pings too, so a cloaked Fed unit is undetectable by both channels simultaneously, even while moving. That's why cloaking is the strongest information tool in the game and why the Fed matchup is genuinely unnerving for Loz. It breaks on proximity and on firing — so cloak buys surprise, not immunity, and units you want to stay hidden should be on Hold Fire.

Why we did it

Because scouting should be the picture, not a supplement to it. In games with radar, the map mostly tells you where the enemy is and scouting fills in the details. Here, if you aren't sending units out to look, you are playing blind and you'll find out when something arrives. The air rush is the case that justifies the whole habit: an air plant spotted at minute four costs you one scout and a few turrets. The same plant spotted at minute nine costs you the game.

Map drawing helps more here than it does in most games. Label the vents you've scouted but haven't claimed, circle the place their army keeps staging from. With no radar to remind you, writing things down where you'll see them is worth real games.